


My Best Quality

by zoverwhelmed



Category: Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 17:17:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5342105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoverwhelmed/pseuds/zoverwhelmed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>3 times Zayn convinced Gigi not to go on a public date, and 1 time he gave in</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Best Quality

**Author's Note:**

  * For [manticoremoons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/manticoremoons/gifts).



> originally posted/submitted on tumblr

1.  
“No. Absolutely not.”

“Are you serious? You can’t be seen doing any of the things on this list?” Yolanda asks, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

Zayn sighed as he leveled an indifferent look at Yolanda and Gigi who were sat across the table from him. “Anything Harry Styles has been photographed doing in L.A. is something I don’t want to be seen doing.”

“These things make you seem relatable. Likable. Going out for coffee, grocery shopping, hiking. These are all things celebrity couples do,” Gigi tells him in a level voice.

Zayn sighs and turns to talk directly to her. “I know that,” he says as he starts fidgeting with the rings on his fingers. “But the problem is I’ve never been photographed doing those things in all the months I’ve been in L.A.-hell those are things I’ve never been photographed doing once these past five years. Everyone is so desperate to prove this is fake, and if I’m seen doing those things, they’ll know that something’s up.”

As he spoke Gigi saw that his expression grew more and more pinched. He looked nervous, and anxious. Her mom must have noticed too because she was the next to speak.

“He’s right. They’re already crawling all over our asses. But we will find something, alright.” She stared Zayn down, making sure he knew that it was a statement and not a question.

A neutral expression settled on Zayn’s face. “Alright.”

2.

“We both have dogs. Let’s just take them to a dog park. Come on. Supermodel, hot musician, puppies. People will eat it up.”

Even over a crappy FaceTime connection, Zayn felt slightly blinded and thrown off by her bright smile. He actually kind of agreed with her and thought the idea was really nice. But…

“I don’t know,” he said looking away from his phone screen. “Rhino has never really been around other dogs before…I don’t want to shock him or overwhelm him,” he finished offering her a shy smile.

Fuck, Gigi thought. That was a pretty decent reason. Out loud she said, “I understand”

***

An hour later Zayn opens his front door to find Gigi standing there holding her dog in her arms.

A huge, shit eating grin breaks out on Zayn’s face. “You know, I’ve had dreams that started like this,” he told her as he leaned against the doorframe.

Gigi smirks back at him. “‘Oh, hello Gigi! How nice of you to stop by, please come in,’” she says sarcastically.

Zayn chuckles as that. He steps to the side and motions Gigi into his house. They stand in the foyer for an awkward second before he suddenly finds himself with an armful of dog.

“Where’s your dog. You said his name was Rhino?” She asks as she starts moving further inside the house.

“Uh. Yeah, Rhino. He’s outside,” he tells her pointing in the direction of his backyard. Her dog is comfortable enough in his arms, in fact he’s trying to lick Zayn’s face.

“You said he hasn’t been around other dogs, so I brought mine to get him comfortable,” she said quietly, pausing on her way to the backdoor. She stepped closer to 

Zayn. “I will get my public doggy playdate Zayn Malik,” she whispered conspiratorially.

She was only a few steps away before Zayn was able to speak again: “You’re very determined aren’t you?”

“I’ve been told my tenacity is my best quality.”

3.

“I don’t really like being put into situations I can’t control,” Zayn confided in Gigi as they sat on the floor of his living room.

As Gigi had expected he shut down her suggestion of shopping on Rodeo, but had invited her over for dinner and drinks. They had started talking more often, exchanging random observations through texts and almost daily updates on every cute thing Rhino did. Even though she was frustrated by him a lot, she started considering him a friend.

“I can’t really explain it, but whenever someone takes a picture of me like…I get nervous. They’ll use it to fit whatever story they feel like writing about me that day,” he said, bringing his beer bottle up to his lips and taking a long sip. “I know it sounds stupid, like.” He doesn’t finish his thought. He shrugs and picks up his fork to poke at his leftover pasta.

Gigi waited a minute before she spoke up. “I get it.” Zayn looked up at her, and she continued. “Before things really started picking up for me, before the whole ‘squad’ thing, before Joe, I was the model who was ‘seen’ snorting coke at a work event. That could have destroyed my career, just because that jerk thought it would be something funny for his Snapchat.” She shook her head just thinking about it. “So I can get that. Wanting to control how people see you.”

Zayn doesn’t say anything. Instead he offers her a small, soft smile and lifts his beer bottle up to toast. They clink bottles and drink in silence.

“You want to know one good thing about disappearing for a few days at a time?” He asks her a few minutes later, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“The next time fans get a picture of you, they absolutely lose their shit,” he says laughing. 

She laughs too, and when they calm down a bit he speaks again. “Come over here,” he said motioning for her to sit next to him. “I can’t give you froyo, or coffee dates, or shopping trips just yet. But Instagram, I can do.”

That makes her crack up as she maneuvers herself around the empty bottles and half-full plates that separate them. “Fine with me,” she says as she settles in next to him. “But I get to take the picture, you don’t know my angles.”

***

It takes them twenty minutes to agree on a picture and a caption. It takes less than a minute for their phones to blow up with notifications.

They spend the rest of the night on the floor of his living room, cracking up at people’s reactions.

1.

A couple of days after they posted their selfie, Zayn finally gave into one of Gigi’s suggestions.

“I still can’t believe you said yes,” she says as she drives them to the Grove early Wednesday morning.

Zayn sighs loudly from where he’s sitting in the passenger seat. “I only said yes because I’ve been meaning to see it again,” he says in what could be mistaken for an annoyed tone, but his smile gave away how amusing he found her enthusiasm.

“Such a nerd,” Gigi says with an identical smile on her face.

***

The plan is to walk past just enough people to catch some attention, a few minutes before the movie actually starts. By the time the paparazzi get there they won’t be able to get into the theater, but Gigi bets that they’ll stick around until the movie lets out.

***

Finn and Rey are running around on screen when Zayn looks over to see Gigi completely engrossed in the action. 

He laughs quietly, but it’s loud enough to make her glance over at him. 

She rolls her eyes at him and turns back to the screen whispering a quiet, “shut up.”

He turned his attention back to the screen, and didn’t say anything when he Gigi reached over and took his hand in hers.

***

The pictures ended up looking really nice. The day after they hit the web, Gigi showed up at Zayn’s house.

“We did your thing, now you have to do mine.”

“Public doggy playdate?”

“Public doggy playdate.”


End file.
